The Fall of Walburga Black
by Ember Quill
Summary: Ginny Weasley is having a very bad day. It began before she even got out of bed, and only got steadily worse. So, when the portrait of Walburga Black starts shouting taunts and insults as usual, she finally snaps.


_This is...well...I actually don't really know where this came from. While I was first planning out __**Resonance** a while ago, an odd little idea hit me, and I decided to run with it. So, I wrote half of this, then left it unfinished as I worked on **Resonance**. Finally, during a rather long bit of writer's block, I saw this and decided to finish it._

_Oh yeah, nothing you recognize from the Harry Potter books is mine, alright? Because, as I'm an 18-year-old Canadian college student, I'm obviously not J. K. Rowling._

_Ahem...on with the story!_

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_**The Fall of Walburga Black**_

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Ginevra Molly Weasley was not, in fact, having a good day.

She was having possibly the worst day ever since her first year at Hogwarts, which had been absolutely _full_ of bad days from start to finish. So, of course, everyone avoided her like the plague. It is a well-known fact that Weasley women have horrible tempers. On a good day, they tend to be the kindest, happiest people you will ever meet. On a bad day, they can be more horrifying than your worst nightmares.

Today was one such day.

It all began when she woke up in the morning. As most bad days do, it started when she got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Ginny gritted her teeth as Hermione's muggle alarm clock, which she'd brought with her to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, continued to beep loudly.

"Hermione...I am going to destroy your alarm clock if you don't turn it off..." she grumbled.

The infernal, incessant beeping refused to stop, so Ginny finally cracked open a hazel eye as she rolled over to look at Hermione's bed. Naturally, it was empty. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

With a sigh, she whispered a few words that would have made her mother throw a fit as she sat up and turned off the alarm, blinking tiredly. She was definitely not a morning person, and it was very early. In fact, as she looked at the alarm clock again, she let out a loud moan of aggravation.

6:30

_You have __**got**__ to be kidding me..._

With a groan, she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Five minutes later, just as she was finally dozing off, the alarm went off again. This time, she punched it, wincing as she split open a knuckle, and smirked in satisfaction as it fell off the nightstand and smashed against the wooden floor. She finally stumbled out of bed, grumbling all the while, and picked up the remains of the clock. Now she would have to apologize to Hermione.

She set the shattered clock gently on the nightstand and tried to leave the room without fully opening her eyes. She paid for her blindness by slamming face-first into a wall. She had forgotten that the door was several feet further to the left in her new bedroom here than it was in the Burrow. After opening the door and successfully entering the hallway, she wandered downstairs, still muttering under her breath. She absolutely _despised_ the stupid house that had become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

Entering the kitchen, she was not surprised to see everybody awake and milling around as her mother finished cooking. Judging by the scents wafting towards her, breakfast would be an extremely pleasant affair. Her stomach rumbled loudly in agreement.

"Morning, Ginny."

The redhead looked up to see Ron's tall, lanky form looking towards her. She nodded back at him and grumbled something under her breath before sitting down across from him and Hermione. The bushy-haired girl gave her an odd look, but Ginny ignored it in favor of the food her mum had just set down in front of her.

It was a rather large portion of eggs, bacon, and toast, with a large glass of juice to wash it down. As she finished devouring the meal, she looked up to see Hermione's shocked and slightly disgusted face. Apparently she didn't like Ginny's table manners.

Well, that was okay. Ginny did not particularly feel like being polite anyway.

When she finished, she stood up and placed her dishes by the sink. As she left the room and headed back for the stairs, hoping to escape whatever chores her mum would assign her for the day, she stubbed her toe against the first step. Cursing quietly, she negotiated the step while somehow not putting any weight on her aching foot.

"Ginny? Would you please go get started in the sitting room? The dust bunnies in there are quite the handful."

Ginny cursed again, substantially louder than the previous time, and was rewarded with a loud shout from the kitchen, courtesy of her overbearing mother.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley! What did you just say?!"

"Nothing!" she shouted back as she headed towards the sitting room.

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By the end of the day, Ginny was covered in dust and had unfortunately discovered a nest of billywigs. Their stings, which usually caused giddiness and a slight case of levitation, did nothing to improve her foul mood, though she _was_ having trouble staying firmly attached to the ground, to her great annoyance.

She had just entered the bedroom she shared with Hermione and flopped onto her bed when a loud shriek made her fall off, hitting the ground head-first. Just when she'd managed to get up, rubbing her forehead while cursing vehemently, she heard another shriek, but this one actually had words.

"HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how..."

The rest of Hermione's speech was inaudible, as the volume slowly lowered to that of a normal conversation. Ginny smiled, feeling happy for the first time that day. Harry was here!

But wait, that meant that she would have to _talk_ to him! Her face grew red at the thought and she spent the next several minutes wondering what she would say.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL!"

Ginny fell down again at Harry's sudden angry shout. With a stifled curse, she sat on the floor with her back against the wall, hoping that she wouldn't injure herself further if she just stayed on the floor.

"YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE SORCEROR'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH OF YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

Okay, maybe she didn't want to talk to Harry anymore. As a matter of fact, if he mentioned Riddle again, she might force herself to slap him. That was _not_ something she wanted to remember.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME! BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

Ginny could distinctly hear Hermione's quiet sobbing as Harry ranted on. Her anger fed on itself and grew larger as she listened. Couldn't he see that none of them were able to tell him anything, and that it wasn't Hermione's fault?

"CAN'T HAVE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR—"

Ginny clenced her fists as she opened the door. She wasn't going to slap him. No, she was going to punch him right in the gut. Maybe lack of air would make him stop shouting.

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK AT PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON—"

Maybe he'd like a nice black eye too...

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER—"

Yeah, right, Ginny hadn't been enjoying herself at _all_. She would have preferred living with the _Dursleys_ to living at Grimmauld Place.

She would give him a piece of her mind later. It didn't matter that he was her idol, her hero, or even her savior. She was going to punch him in the gut, give him a black eye, and hit him a couple more time until he could barely breathe, let alone shout. Then she was going to shout at him. That sounded like a good plan.

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Just when she was finally going to put her plan into action, she heard a loud crash from the hallway. It was a rather familiar noise. Apparently Tonks had knocked over the umbrella stand again.

"FILTH! HALF-BREEDS! SCUM! BEGONE FROM MY HOUSE! BLOOD-TRAITORS AND MUDBLOODS, NEVER SET FOOT HERE AGAIN!"

Letting out a long stream of curses (today seemed to be a good day for cursing), she headed out to the hallway. Everyone else was further away than she was, so she got to the portrait first and started wrestling with the curtains that usually covered the face of the miserable old woman.

"HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS, YOU FILTHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD-LOVER!"

As she listened to the picture's screeches, her face gradually darkened until its crimson color was darker than her hair. Stepping back, she drew her wand and pointed it at the picture frame. _Screw underage magic laws,_ she thought. _I don't care anymore._

"DON'T YOU POINT THAT WAND AT ME YOU DISGUSTING BLOOD-TRAITOR!"

"SHUT UP, YOU OLD, EVIL HAG!" Ginny shouted back as she began to wave her wand. "REDUCTO!"

_**BOOM!**_

"_Ginny_! What did you _do_!" her mother shouted from downstairs.

"Oops," the little redhead mumbled as the dust cleared to reveal a massive hole in the wall, with little chunks of wallpaper, plaster, wood, and insulation piled around it. Tiny fragments of glass and dark wood, the last remaining bits of the frame, were visible, but the picture had apparently been completely vaporized by her spell. Raising her voice a little, she called out, "I think Mrs. Black's gone!"

"How did you get her picture off the wall?" Molly asked as she started walking up the stairs. Judging from the explosion, she wasn't sure she would like the answer.

"I blew it up!" Ginny shouted back.

"Just the picture?" Molly asked, curious despite herself. That had been a rather large explosion. Finally, she walked around the corner and stopped in shock as she saw the devastation.

"Er...not quite..." the youngest Weasley mumbled weakly. "The wall, too..."

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**_AN: _**_So? Review and let me know what you think! And don't get on my case about **Resonance**. I'm working on chapter four, but it's taking a while._


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